LC AuxeTec has actually protected a seed financial investment from Northern Gritstone for a product referred to as comparable to the Achilles tendon and cat skin.
The University of Leeds spinout has actually established an auxetic product made from liquid crystal elastomers that gets thicker instead of thinner when extended. The start-up’s product has a unique quality that allows it to take in shock and improve sturdiness, making it appropriate for usage in electronic screens.
Professor Helen Gleeson and her group inadvertently found the product while investigating liquid crystal elastomers at the University of Leeds. According to the spinout business, no other product that has actually been found is auxetic at the molecular level.
“When we discovered that our materials were auxetic at the molecular level, we began to realise the opportunities that they could hold across a number of different industries as they can be stretched further than other materials already available,” said Gleeson, who established LC AuxeTec.
LC AuxeTec is the very first University of Leeds spinout to get Nothern Gritstone support and has unique licencing of the product’s patent.
Northern Gritstone is a financial investment company established by universities in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield to support spinouts in the North of England. It just recently protected £30m from British Patient Capital.
Northern Gritstone adds to LC AuxeTec’s broader seed round, where it intends to raise £2m. The spinout will utilize the capital to develop a group and test the product in business applications, consisting of wind turbine polymers and automobile glass.
The spinout will be led by CEO Robert Gunn and transfer to its own workplaces at the University of Leeds’ Nexus building.
Gleeson included: “As we continue to test the properties of our material and expand our understanding of what it is achievable, Northern Gritstone’s funding will enable Robert and his new team to start making these potential use cases a reality.”
